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Rutgers Law Dedicates Iconic Building to Ruth Bader Ginsburg

RUTGERS LAW DEDICATES BUILDING FOR JUSTICE GINSBURG: Rutgers University on December 2, 2021, dedicated 15 Washington Street as Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hall in honor of the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice, who taught at Rutgers Law School from 1963 to 1972. From left to right: Rutgers Law School Interim Co-Dean Rose Cuison-Villazor; Rutgers Law Professor Suzanne Kim; Chair of the Rutgers Board of Governors, Mark Angelson; Rutgers University-Newark Chancellor Nancy Cantor; Frank Hundley, member of the Rutgers Board of Governors; Columbia Law Professor Jane Ginsburg, Rutgers University President Jonathan Holloway; and Sherri-Ann Butterfield, Executive Vice Chancellor, Rutgers University-Newark.                                                                                     [Photo by Ron Scott//Rutgers-Newark.]

Rutgers University dedicated 15 Washington St. in Newark as Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hall on Dec. 2., in honor of the late U.S. Supreme Court justice, who taught at Rutgers Law School from 1963 to 1972. The dedication ceremony featured remarks by university president Jonathan Holloway, Rutgers-Newark chancellor Nancy Cantor, board of governors chair Mark Angelson and interim law school co-dean Rose Cuison-Villazor, and was attended by Ruth Bader Ginsburg's daughter, Jane Ginsburg, according to a release. "In naming this space for her, we embrace Justice Ginsburg's commitment to equal justice under the law, her fearlessness in pursuit of a better life for women and for those who have faced hardship and discrimination, and her clear-eyed understanding that we still have so much work ahead in achieving the promise of America," Holloway said. "The reason we have made progress in addressing unfairness and injustice in our nation–whether emancipation or suffrage or civil rights or women's rights–is because of courageous people like her, people looking beyond their own interest and serving the greater good like Ruth Bader Ginsburg did with such intelligence, passion, wit and grace."

RUTH BADER GINSBURG HALL: The exterior of Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hall.                                                                      [Photo by Roy Groething.]

Last fall, the Rutgers board unanimously approved renaming the 17-story residence hall at Rutgers University-Newark in honor of Ginsburg, who died in September 2020 following recurring bouts of cancer. The hall was home to Rutgers Law School for nearly a quarter-century after Ginsburg left Rutgers. It is now home to 330 graduate and undergraduate students, including 100 law students, and is the residence of Cantor. The dedication followed a winter symposium by the Women's Rights Law Reporter honoring Ginsburg, who served as the journal's first advisor. The theme was "Feminism in the Law: An Exploration of Justice Ginsburg's Legacy."   Jane Ginsburg, a School of Columbia Law professor, gave opening remarks at the symposium and recalled how, in 1969, Rutgers law students asked then-professor Ginsburg to teach a course on women and the law. "That Rutgers student-initiated course set my mother on what became a celebrated path," Ginsburg said, then read from her mother's recollection of the time: "It is evident I was in the right place at the right time. Rutgers students sparked my interest and action. Faculty colleagues were supportive."